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It used to be called the Goldilocks economy—not too hot, not too cold, but just right—in which price inflation stays moderate and economic growth runs fast enough to put modest downward pressure on the unemployment rate.

In 2012, of course, a Goldilocks rate of growth is just wrong. With the unemployment rate still above 8%, some extra heat is in order. Unfortunately, the employment report for April, released Friday, together with other data released last week, confirmed that Goldilocks has become an unwelcome guest.

Others have treated the April employment data as an even more unwelcome sign that the economy is reverting to its sluggish pace of last year. Not likely. The numbers do indicate real GDP growth in the neighborhood of 2.5%; 4% to 5% would be more welcome, but 2.5% is better than last year's 1.6%.

Nonfarm payroll employment rose just 115,000 in April, but with upward revisions to prior months' numbers, the net gain was a respectable 168,000. And given the normal drag from government in this cycle, private-sector employment did even better—up 130,000 in April, and with revisions to prior months, up a more solid 196,000.

A better measure of progress would be the gains year-to-date.. The four-month average increase through April in nonfarm payroll employment has been 201,000, and in private-sector employment, 207,000. The unemployment rate in April was basically unchanged at 8.1%.

Lending further confirmation to the script for moderate growth, the Institute for Supply Management's indexes of activity in services and in manufacturing moved in opposite directions in April, but both remained in expansionary territory. The services index fell to 53.5—anything above 50 signals expansion—with 15 of the 18 sectors reporting gains.

Meanwhile, ISM's manufacturing index rose to 54.8, with especially large pickups in two key components: new orders and production. Pent-up demand for consumer goods, particularly cars and furniture, should mean that growth in domestic manufacturing will continue to be substantial.

With the euro zone in recession, the gap between manufacturing in the U.S. and in Europe is the widest since 1993, when the Old World was also in recession and the U.S. wasn't. At the time, in fact, the U.S. was also experiencing a Goldilocks economy—almost as unwelcome then as it is now.

THE LONG-HERALDED RETIREMENT of the baby boomers reaches a milestone this year, now that the oldest boomers, born in 1946, turn the ripe age of 66, just old enough to qualify for full Social Security benefits. (The youngest boomers, born in 1964, turn 48, and still have a way to go.)

The aging of the baby boomers is one reason for the decline in the labor-force participation rate—the share of the adult population that chooses either to work or to seek a job. For example, if we take the participation rate of people aged 45 to 49, compared with those 50 to 54, we find a few-percentage-point decline in participation by the latter group.

But something else is going on that is partly a function of harder times: The participation rate of people 65 and older, while still lower than that of their younger counterparts, is on the increase. To afford their happy golden years, it seems, many boomers will have to keep working.